Mike Pence

Michael Richard "Mike" Pence (7 June 1959-) was Vice President of the United States from 20 January 2017, succeeding Joe Biden. Pence had previously served as Governor of Indiana (R) from 14 January 2013 to 9 January 2017, succeeding Mitch Daniels and preceding Eric Holcomb. Pence was a supporter of the Tea Party movement, and he was a supporter of the Religious Right Republicans.

Biography
Michael Richard Pence was born in Columbus, Indiana on 7 June 1959, the son of two Irish Catholic supporters of the Democratic Party. He earned his law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1986, and he became a born-again Christian in college. Pence went from being a liberal Democrat and supporter of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jimmy Carter to becoming a conservative Republican who supported Ronald Reagan. Pence worked as an attorney and a talk radio show host, and he attempted to run for the US House of Representatives several times in the 1990s; in 1990, he ran an advertisement featuring a stereotypical Arab man thanking his opponent for investing in foreign oil, an ad that was criticized as offensive by Arab groups.

Congressional career
In 2000, Pence won election to Congress, succeeding David M. McIntosh as the representative from Indiana's 2nd congressional district after McIntosh opted to run for governor. Pence was succeeded by Chris Chocola in 2003, and he was elected to succeed Dan Burton as the representative from the 6th congressional district on 3 January 2003. He opposed George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind Act" and his expansion of Medicare, marking himself as a traditionalist and a staunch conservative. From 2009 to 2011, he served as Chairman of the House Republican Coference, as he was a prominent supporter of the Tea Party movement and a member of the religious right.

Governor of Indiana
In 2012, Pence announced his candidacy for Governor of Indiana to succeed the term-limited Republican Governor Mitch Daniels. Pence won the election with just under 50% of the vote, becoming Governor of Indiana on 14 January 2013. Luke Messer took over his old House of Representatives seat.

Pence ordered budget cuts, and job growth lagged behind the national trend. By 2014, Indiana's economic growth was among the slowest-growing in the country, with Carrier Corporation and United Technologies sending 2,100 jobs to Mexico after closing two facilities in the state. Pence also defended right-to-work legislation against organized labor, and he made himself known as an enemy of public schools, increasing state funding to charter schools and voucher programs. Pence rolled back on renewable energy standards, ended energy efficiency efforts, supported coal over clean energy, allowed for guns to be kept in vehicles on school property, defunded Planned Parenthood at a time when it was the only provider of HIV care in rural areas, allowed for Barack Obama to expand Medicaid in the state, allowed for businesses to deny service to LGBT people, attempted to completely ban abortions, attempted to prevent Syrian refugees from being resettled in Indiana, and used a personal AOL email account to conduct business.

Vice President of the United States
Pence's far-right views made him an ideal running mate for 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and he cancelled his second run for governor when Donald Trump named him as his running mate. Pence had previously endorsed Ted Cruz for president, but he supported Trump's Muslim ban and Trump's intentions to force Mexico to pay for a border wall. At noon on 20 January 2017, Pence became the sixth Vice President from Indiana, being inaugurated alongside Trump. Pence was hated by the LGBT community, organized labor, and most liberals in general, and many saw him as more dangerous than Trump, as Pence was an experienced politician who was known to constantly defend his own views. On 7 February 2017, he became the first Vice President to cast a tie-breaking vote when he confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, and he also broke a tie to defund Planned Parenthood on 30 March 2017.